HEMLOCK SPRUCE. 
10T 
of the T evergreen woods, of which the remainder' consists of the Black 
Spruce. Further south it is less common, and in the Middle and Southern 
States is seen only on the Alleghanies ; even there it is often confined to 
the sides of torrents and to the most humid and gloomy exposures. 
In the country east and north of Massachusetts, which, without embrac- 
ing Canada, is more than 750 miles long and about 250 miles broad, the 
resinous trees are constantly found at the foot of the hills, and constitute 
nearly half of the unbroken forests which cover these regions. Hence we 
may conceive how extensively this species is multiplied. 
Moist grounds appear not to be in general, the most favourable to its 
growth ; when mingled with the Black Spruce it predominates less as the 
soil is more humid, and I have often seen large stocks among the Beeches 
and Sugar Maples on soils proper for corn. 
The Hemlock Spruce is always larger and taller than the Black Spruce ; 
it attains the height of 70 or 80 feet, with a circumference from 6 to 9 
feet, and uniform for two-thirds of its length. But if the number and dis- 
tance of the concentric circles afford a certain criterion of the longevity of 
trees and the rapidity of their vegetation, it must be nearly two centuries 
in acquiring such dimensions. 
The leaves are 6 or 8 lines long, flat, numerous, irregularly disposed in 
two ranks, and downy at their unfolding. The cones are a little longer 
than the leaves, oval, pendulous, and situated at the extremity of the 
branches. In a favorable soil this tree has an elegant appearance while 
less than 30 feet high, owing to the symmetrical arrangement of its 
branches and to its tufted foliage, and at this age it is employed in land- 
scape gardening. When arrived at its full growth, the large limbs are 
usually broken off 4 or 5 feet from the trunk, and the dried extremities 
are seen staring out through the little twigs which spring around them. 
In this mutilated state, by which it is easily recognized, it has a disagree- 
able aspect, and presents, while in full vigor, an image of decrepitude. 
This accident, which is attributed to the snow lodging upon the close, 
horizontal, tufted branches, never happens to the young trees, whose fibres 
are more flexible. The woods are also filled with dead stocks, but I am 
unable to say whether their destruction is occasioned by an insect which 
attaches itself of preference to the Bines, or to some other cause. The 
dead moss-grown trees, which stand mouldering for twenty or thirty years, 
deform the forests of this part of the United States, and give them a 
gloomy and desolate appearance. 
The Hemlock Spruce is distinguished by the peculiarity of sometimes 
ceasing to grow at the height of 24 or 30 inches. In this state it has a 
pyramidical shape, and its compact, tufted branches, adhere to the ground. 
It might be employed to form hedges and to decorate gardens in place of 
the Yew, to which it is preferable for the superior rapidity of its growth 
